Pupils aiming for grammar place 'risk sink schools'

Parents who want to send their child to grammar school may end up with a "sink" comprehensive under Government changes to admissions procedures, it was claimed yesterday.

Critics of the changes said that old-style Labour education authorities which were against selection had "loaded the dice" against parents who aspired to grammar schools, for which an entrance exam governs admission.

Until this year, grammar schools administered their own admissions and parents could apply in the hope of a place for a child while separately applying to other education authority schools.

But the rules have changed for next September's admissions. All choices must be listed on the same application, with councils able to choose between operating an equal preference system - effectively a nomination of two first choices - or a first choice preference system of one, two and three.

It is the latter system that is causing concern and has led to controversy on Labour-controlled Reading borough council. The town has two excellent grammar schools - Reading Boys' and Kendrick Girls' - but only one sought-after comprehensive, Highdown.

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Highdown is likely to fill up with pupils whose parents put it down as their first choice. Those who put one of the grammar schools as first choice would naturally put Highdown as second. However, if they fail to gain a grammar school place they would almost certainly not get into Highdown either.

Rob Wilson, the Tory education spokesman on the council, said: "In trying for the best, they could end up with the worst. Many parents may not think it is worth trying for the grammar school because the stakes are too high. This is detrimental to the grammar schools and detrimental to parental choice." Mr Wilson, who is the prospective Tory parliamentary candidate for the town, said he believed that the council had opted for the first choice preference system to undermine the grammar schools, which regularly top performance tables.

He said that all the surrounding education authorities had chosen the equal preference system, allowing parents to apply to the grammars while being assured of their second choice if they failed to get a place for their child.

Tim Charlesworth, the chairman of education on the neighbouring Tory-controlled Wokingham district council, said: "This is a Labour Party attempt to weaken grammar school education by a back-door route.

"Having failed to win the argument against grammar schools in public it is now resorting to deceit."

Helen Clayman is among those faced with the dilemma of which school to put as first choice for her 10-year-old son, Joshua.

She said: "I would like him to sit the exam for Reading Boys' School but I simply do not know if it is worth the risk.

"I may well opt for Highdown or even a school outside the borough. It is a great shame, because grammar schools offer an opportunity to everybody, based on ability not wealth."

A Reading council spokesman said: "We are confident that our arrangements will be advantageous to parents who want to send their children to the comprehensive of their choice.

"We are also confident that parents who are unsuccessful in seeking a grammar school place for their child will still have no difficulty obtaining a place for them in one of our comprehensives.

"In an equal preference scheme, there can be no guarantee that parents will be offered their first preference school. Our scheme makes it much more likely that the majority of parents will be offered a place at their first preference school."